Friday with Fred Astaire

The movie star sings and narrates Rankin/Bass stop motion “The Easter Bunny is Comin’ to Town” (1977)

Fred Astaire narrates a stop motion Easter movie in 1977’s The Easter Bunny is Comin’ to Town. The film for television is entertaining in spite of its flaws. Beginning with a mock news report, and borrowing characters and stop motion puppetry from the earlier 1970 TV hit Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, which Mr. Astaire also narrates as the same character, the hour show sets out to explain Easter traditions.

“Everybody shared everything and worshipped the Lord in their own way,” goes one cringeworthy line describing a fictitious town that mixes dubious notions with the origins of the springtime holiday. A rabbit, named Sunny “after the Easter morning sunrise and the rebirth it represents,” is the main character. Sunny is an orphan born in the woods near an all-children village called Kidville populated by orphans making their own way. Sunny turns out to be a capitalist who wants to expand Kidville’s production output and sell goods in other towns. When he stumbles across a town through …